Method of screening and prioritizing an incoming call

ABSTRACT

A subscriber interface operating as a Personal Agent is provided to simplify, enhance and integrate the currently fragmented telephone services. The Personal Agent enables the subscriber to access and activate telephone network services using voice recognition technology. The subscriber interface is seamlessly integrated with the telephone network to enable the subscriber to perform one or more activation and deactivation commands of telephone features, initiate a call, and take calls at their discretion. The subscriber interface also enables the subscriber to administer the options that tailor the system to the subscriber. Access and activation of telephone features are enabled by the subscriber using voice commands. In particular, the present invention integrates Calling Line ID (CLID) with the names identified in a voice dialing personal directory and/or Name Display database to enable the user to use spoken names to instruct the various telephone features to work specifically on particular lines, e.g. &#34;Call Forward all calls to voice mail except for &#34;Mom&#34;. The voice dialing directory (or Name Display database) can then be used to identify &#34;mom&#34;&#39;s phone number(s) which would be matched against the incoming CLIDs to determine how to route incoming calls.

This is a Division, of application Ser. No. 08/756,828, filed Nov. 19,1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,611.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to personal communication services (PCS) agents,more commonly called Personal Agents, but more particularly, to animproved subscriber interface which facilitates the subscriber's accessand operation of personal communication services using voice activatedcommands.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telephone service subscribers have, in the last five to ten years, beenoffered a plethora of new communication services which have in theorybeen provided to facilitate the subscriber's use of the telephonenetwork. Some of these new services may be subscribed from a telephoneservice provider on a monthly or on a per-call basis, depending on thetype of service.

Although most of these will be known to persons skilled in the art oftelephony, these new services are briefly reviewed for convenience andto illustrate to some extent what some people call telephone serviceoverload.

These include:

i) Calling Number/Name Identification which lets the subscriber seeusing an appropriate display, the name and/or the number of the callerbefore the call is answered;

ii) Call Answer Service which automatically answers the subscriber'scalls if the subscriber is unavailable or on the phone. This serviceprovides callers with a personal greeting recorded by the subscriber andenables incoming callers to leave a message;

iii) Extension Call Answer Service which provides personal answering forup to four people. Callers are given a personal greeting and offered aselection of the person they want to leave a message for;

iv) Residential Voice Mail service is a service which gives thesubscriber ability to send messages to other Call Answer subscriberswithout ringing their telephone set or talking to them directly.

v) Call Waiting Service which lets the subscriber know if another callfrom a third party is waiting while the subscriber is on line withanother party.

vi) Spontaneous Caller Identification with Call Waiting is anenhancement to call waiting service which enables subscribers with aspecial display telephone to see the calling number/name identificationof an incoming third party call while being on line.

vii) Distinctive Ringing provides the subscriber with a number ofdistinguishing rings to allow the subscriber to identify the numberbeing called.

viii) Basic Call Screening is a service offered to telephone subscriberswherein up to twelve numbers of the subscriber's choice are directed toa recording that tells the caller that the subscriber is not available.With this service, the telephone will not ring if any one of thosetwelve callers dials the subscriber's telephone number. The subscribercan add or delete numbers at any time.

ix) Three-Way Calling Service enables the subscriber to talk with twoother people at different locations at the same time.

x) Call Return Service provides the subscriber with the telephone numberof the last person who called whether the call was answered or not.

xi) Call Again or Busy Call Return is a derivation of Call Returnwherein the service monitors a busy line for a predetermined amount oftime without the subscriber having to redial the number continuouslyuntil the connection is made.

xii) Call Forwarding Service enables the subscriber to transfer callsfrom one telephone to another.

xiii) Speed Calling Service enables subscribers to make use ofabbreviated dialing for a certain number of telephone numbers.

As can be seen from the above, telephone service subscribers can beoffered several different telephone features; in fact, several more arebeing developed. Most features require the subscriber to use one or morecodes in association with the (*) and/or (#) keys to activate andde-activate the feature.

The problem associated with the offering of these services is that thesubscriber is required to remember and make use of predeterminedactivation codes to operate and access each service. Thus, even thoughthese services are provided to assist the subscriber in controllingincoming and outgoing calls, it has made the use of all of theseservices that much more difficult to operate by the subscriber.

Obviously, the vast majority of subscribers will not remember which codeto use and therefore have to make use of one or more reminder cardsshowing activation and de-activation codes. If a card is lost, thesubscriber has to contact the service provider for advice in using theservice or feature.

This is not only annoying and cumbersome to most users, but also cancause the subscriber to cancel the service after just a few months ofuse.

In addition, because of these shortcomings, the majority of theseservices are rarely used to their full potential.

Recently, developments have been made to facilitate the use of one ormore of these telephone network services. However, these efforts arebeing directed towards call screening and prioritization of incomingcalls as opposed to integrating and assisting the subscriber with theuse of all of these telephone services.

For example, PCT Publication No. WO91/07838 published May 30, 1991describes a method and apparatus for providing call screening andforwarding for calls directed to a subscriber.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,578 which issued to Brennan describes a personalcommunication service with mobility manager which enables a subscriberto tailor the telephone service to provide communication mobility andincoming call management. Calls to a personal number assigned to thesubscriber are routed to a PCS service node which will reroute the callaccording to the subscriber's service profile stored in a database. Theservice node ensures that attempts to communicate with the subscriberare handled with appropriate consideration for who is calling, when thecall is made, and the urgency of the call. The subscriber is givencontrol over how the system will work for them in routing incomingcalls.

Although the aforementioned prior art inventions have helped thesubscriber in using call screening and prioritization services, they arestill quite limited and problematic for the subscriber. For example, oneof the problems associated with the PCS system described in each of theaforementioned prior art documents, is that they operate as an adjunctto the subscriber's telephone service. What this means, is that thesubscriber is required to dial a pre-determined number to access thesubscriber's profile. In addition, any changes to the mobility andincoming call management profile of the subscriber can only be doneusing lengthy and complicated interactive voice response (IVR)interfaces. Also, since the PCS service requires the use of a uniquetelephone number in order to make use of the screening and call routingcapabilities of the system, the control of incoming calls can only bemade if callers dial this unique telephone number. That is, callershaving access to the subscriber's home, business, cellular or othertelephone number, can still call the subscriber directly, thereforebypassing the PCS service.

In addition, these prior art inventions do not offer any improvement inmanaging telephone features such as the Voice Messaging System, CallWaiting, Call Display, Call Return, etc.

A need therefore exists for an improved subscriber interface whichovercomes the problems associated with the aforementioned prior artsystems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the system and method of the present invention, asubscriber interface operating as a Personal Agent is provided tosimplify, enhance and integrate the currently fragmented telephoneservices. The Personal Agent enables the subscriber to access andactivate telephone network services using voice recognition technology.The subscriber interface is seamlessly integrated with the telephonenetwork to enable the subscriber to perform one or more activation anddeactivation commands of telephone features, initiate a call, and takecalls at their discretion. The subscriber interface also enables thesubscriber to administer the options that tailor the system to thesubscriber. Access and activation of telephone features are enabled anddisabled by the subscriber using voice commands. In particular, thepresent invention integrates Calling Line ID (CLID) with the namesidentified in a personal directory and/or Name Display database toenable the subscriber to use spoken names to instruct the varioustelephone features to work specifically on particular lines, e.g. "CallForward all calls to voice mail except for "Mom". The voice dialingdirectory (or Name Display database) can then be used to identify"mom"'s phone number(s) which would be matched against the incomingCLIDs to determine how to route incoming calls.

In accordance with one feature of the present invention, the subscriberinterface forms an integral part of the subscriber's telephone serviceto eliminate the need of the subscriber to dial a predetermined numberto access his or her personal communication services, that is thesubscriber is given implicit access to the Personal Agent, by going offhook from any one of a number of predetermined subscriber locations fromwhich the subscriber may be calling.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent eliminates the opportunity of a caller to by-pass thesubscriber's Personal Agent.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, thesubscriber can automatically control the Personal Agent using voiceactivated commands which are followed by voice responses from thePersonal Agent.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent service can be accessed from one or more locations.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, securityaccess to the Personal Agent is controlled by means of a subscribervoice print and/or DTMF code to prevent unauthorized access and use ofthe Personal Agent.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, incomingcall management is provided for a subscriber using the Personal Agent tointercept calls directed to any one of the subscriber's networkaddresses identified in the subscriber call management profile.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, incomingcall management is provided by the Personal Agent by making use of acontact database having the telephone numbers and prerecorded names ofthe subscriber's commonly-known contacts such that incoming callscreening based on calling line identification can provide thesubscriber with the prerecorded name of the calling party.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, incomingcall management can be provided by the Personal Agent by making use ofCCS7 messages for calls not provided in the subscriber's contactdatabase.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent provides the subscriber with the opportunity to add a newname and directory number(s) to the subscriber's personal directory.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, thesubscriber's location for the purpose of routing incoming calls can bedynamically tailored according to the location from where the subscriberis contacting the Personal Agent.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, the Personal Agentenables the subscriber to effect selective call forwarding according toa predetermined list of CLIDs which can dynamically be modified by thesubscriber.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, incoming callmanagement is provided by the Personal Agent by enabling incoming callsto be screened based on whether the incoming call is long distance,data, or other types of calls requiring special routing treatment.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, the Personal Agentprovides subscriber access to and control of call waiting options.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, the Personal Agentcan further screen incoming call waiting calls based on the prioritylevel of the subscriber's existing call, status, and whether theincoming call is a data, long distance or other types of calls.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent provides special call waiting announcements to callersbased on various screening parameters.

In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, the PersonalAgent provides caller controlled options for call waiting calls.

In accordance with yet another embodiment of the invention, a voicemessaging subscriber interface is provided by the Personal Agent foraccessing and operating the voice messaging system using voice-activatedcommands.

In accordance with yet another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent voice messaging interface enables a subscriber to requesta list of new messages, play messages in any order, and play voice mailgreetings according to calling party's identification.

In accordance with yet another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent voice messaging interface enables a subscriber to receivea message waiting indication at any one of the subscriber'spredetermined network addresses.

In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, the PersonalAgent interface enables a subscriber to initiate outgoing calls via thePersonal Agent using voice activated dialing, even while accessing voicemail.

In accordance with yet another feature of the present invention, voiceactivated dialing of outgoing calls can either be made by the subscriberusing speech recognition of dialed digits or using the subscriber'scontact database of existing recorded names and places for initiatingoutgoing calls or dialing digits as is currently done.

In accordance with yet another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent provides the subscriber with incoming and outgoing calllogs.

In accordance with yet another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent provides the subscriber with reminders of the subscribersettings and reminder messages entered by the subscriber.

In accordance with yet another feature of the present invention, thePersonal Agent can integrate voice mail distribution features with thesubscriber contact database.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood by an examination of thefollowing description, together with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone switching center with thePersonal Agent subscriber interface of the present invention;

FIG. 2a is a block diagram illustrating the interaction between thetelephone switching center and the Personal Agent processor of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2b is a block diagram of a call scenario wherein an incoming callis intercepted by the Personal Agent of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the Personal Agent processor of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4a is a table illustrating a typical word database for use with thespeech recognition module according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4b is a table illustrating a typical audio response module databaseaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5a are tables illustrating the database content of a typicalsubscriber profile;

FIG. 5b is a table illustrating the database content of a typicalcontact database;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the call flow for a subscribergoing off-hook;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an outgoing call scenario;

FIGS. 8a-8d are flow diagrams illustrating an incoming call scenario;and

FIGS. 9a-9e are flow diagrams illustrating a call waiting scenarioaccording to the Personal Agent interface of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In order to lighten the following description, the following acronymswill be used:

AIN: Advanced Intelligent Network;

BRI: Basic Rate Interface;

CCS7: SS7 Network Signaling;

CLID: Calling Line Identification;

CS&P: Call Screening & Prioritization;

CW: Call Waiting;

DN: Directory Number;

DTMF: Dual Tone Multi Frequency;

IN: Intelligent Network;

ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network;

ISUP: ISDN User Part;

IVR: Interactive Voice Response;

POTS: Plain Ordinary Telephone System;

PRI: Primary Rate Interface;

PSTN: Public Switching Telephone Network;

SCP: Signalling Control Point;

SCWID: Spontaneous Call Waiting Identification;

SP: Signalling Points;

SSP: Service Switching Point;

STP: Signalling Transfer Point;

TCAP: Transaction Capabilities Application Part.

AIN is considered a subset of IN. However, for the purpose of thepresent invention, IN will be used hereinafter, even though thesolutions offered here are applicable to AIN as well.

A typical SS7 network consists of signalling links and nodes. SS7 nodesare referred to as signalling points (SP) and are interconnected bysignalling links. Each SS7 signalling node is assigned a unique pointcode, serving as the network address for message routing. SS7 signallingnodes include signalling points (SP), service switching points (SSP),service control points (SCP) and signal transfer points (STP).

Signalling points (SP) are capable of sending and receiving SS7 messageswith other SS7-equipped telephone offices, and routing calls based onthe information exchanged. Incoming messages are formatted andtransferred to the relevant processing function in the switch. Outgoingmessages are transmitted over the signalling links.

Service switching points (SSPs) are Signalling Points (SP) furtherequipped to halt call progress, launch an SS7 query to obtain additionalrouting information from an SCP, and then route or treat the call basedon the information received in the SCP's response. SSPs interact withdatabases to provide services and routing.

Service control points (SCP) are often referred to as SS7 servicesdatabases. One or more SCPs can serve as a central intelligence point inthe network for enhancing how and if calls are to be routed through thenetwork. Queries and responses to and from the SCP are carried over SS7signalling links in the form of packet messages.

Signal transfer points (STP), are special SS7 nodes which provide amessage switching function between other nodes and a SS7 network. Actingas a packet switch, it examines incoming messages and then routes themover the appropriate signalling link to the proper destination switchingoffices and databases. In this particular function, it supportsend-to-end signalling, i.e. in transit (local, tandem and toll)connections, required for transaction messaging used for specialservices. Unlike other SS7 nodes, the STP does not generally act as asource or sink for SS7 messages.

Referring now to FIG. 1, we have shown a block diagram of a telephoneswitching center 10, which may take the form of an Signalling Point (SP)in the CCS7 network. The telephone switching center is provided with aPersonal Agent processor 11 adapted to provide a subscriber withenhanced and integrated communication mobility and call managementservices. The Personal Agent when used as the subscriber interface formsan integral part of the subscriber's telephone network in that it can beaccessed seamlessly by the subscriber from any one of a predeterminednumber of locations, such as home, business, mobile telephone, etc. Ifthe subscriber is located at a location where the station address is notknown to the subscriber's Personal Agent, a predetermined accesstelephone number (such as a toll free number) would be provided toenable the subscriber to call the Personal Agent from anywhere.

The Personal Agent processor 11 enables subscribers to manage outgoingand incoming calls, and interact with their voice messaging platformusing user friendly commands. These commands can either be activatedusing speech recognition or DTMF access codes when required.

Preferably, the Personal Agent processor 11 is located at one or moretelephone switching centers to enable a Personal Agent interface to beprovided to any telephone service subscriber on the network. In someinstances, the Personal Agent processor 11 will be co-located with thetelephone switching center 10. On the other hand, the Personal Agentprocessor 11 can also form part of a remote telephone switching center12 and still provide Personal Agent interface to remotely-locatedsubscribers. The telephone switching center 10 includes a switchingnetwork 13, line circuits 14 and trunk circuits 15, which are operativeunder control of a call controller 16, to provide communication pathsbetween telephone stations 17a-17n and various trunks 18a-18n. Telephoneswitching centers of this general form and function are well known topersons of typical skill in the art of digital switch telephony.However, for convenience, the operation of the telephone switchingcenter is briefly reviewed.

In its operation, the telephone switching center 10 utilizes variousservice circuits, not shown, for generating and detecting telephonysignalling and supervision signals and interfacing signalling andsupervision information with call controller 16. During typicaloperations, one of the functions in the progress of a telephone call isthat of receiving signalling, representative of dialed or presseddigits, from a calling party at say telephone set 17a to 17n. When thedialed or pressed digits are representative of a telephone number of acalled party, they are referred to as primary signalling. During theinitial portion of a telephone call, dial tone is supplied to thecalling party and indicates that the telephone switching center 10 hasconnected a service circuit, referred to as a receiver, to detect andreceive primary signalling. After the telephone switching center 10 issatisfied that the primary signalling has been received, the servicecircuit is disconnected, and it is then available for another telephonecall.

Dialed or pressed digits which may be originated at a telephone stationset sometime later, during a conversational portion of the callprogress, are usually referred to as secondary signalling. Secondarysignalling is relied upon to provide telephone users with access to andcontrol of telephony features such as voice messaging. As a matter ofconvenience, secondary signalling is usually transmitted in the form ofDual Tone Multi Frequencies (DTMF) signals. DTMF signals aretransmittable by way of voice band communication paths and hence may beresponded to by any telephone facility involved with the telephone call,without participation of the telephone facility directly associated withthe calling party. If use is made of secondary signalling, provision ismade for continuous monitoring of the conversational portion of the callprogress to receive and detect any occurrence of secondary signalling.In some instances, secondary signalling is not provided for unless thetelephone user takes some action, such as flashing the switch hook, orunless the telephone call has been routed to, or intercepted by, aspecial facility, for example, Personal Agent processor 11 shown in FIG.1.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, illustrated inFIG. 1, a Personal Agent subscriber having access to the telephonenetwork from a predetermined number of telephone stations 17a to 17n hasinstantaneous access to the Personal Agent processor 11 from any one ofa predetermined number of locations, number 1 to number n. With thePersonal Agent interface of the present invention, a subscriber locatedat location number 1 and making use of telephone set 17a willimmediately have access to the Personal Agent processor 11 upon goingoff hook. Whether a line circuit is associated with a subscriber of thePersonal Agent service is determined from a telephone switching centerdatabase 19. Each of the line circuits 14 has an associated networkaddress and telephone station. The service provider maintains indatabase 19 a profile of each subscriber. This profile provides thetelephone switching center with information regarding calling lineidentification, line circuit codes, class of services provided to thesubscriber, etc.

With the Personal Agent service of the present invention, the telephoneswitching center database 19 is data filled to contain an additionalsubscriber parameter indicative of whether the line circuit requestingservice is associated with a subscriber of the Personal Agent interface.Accordingly, when a Personal Agent subscriber goes off hook at telephonestation set 17a, a verification of the subscriber profile is made fromtelephone switching center database 19 to determine whether thattelephone set belongs to a subscriber of the Personal Agent interface.This database is commonly called a service profile database. If thetelephone station set 17a is associated with a network addressprovisioned for a Personal Agent subscriber, call controller 16 willcouple the associated line circuit with the Personal Agent processor 11via link 20. Link 20 may be an ISDN or PRI connection. Call controller16 routes subscriber identity information to the Personal Agentprocessor 11 for the purpose of identifying to the Personal Agent thesubscriber profile. This identity information may contain the CLID ofthe calling station, subscriber name, etc. If the telephone set that isoff-hook is not associated with a Personal Agent subscriber, the callingparty immediately receives dial tone. If the telephone set is associatedwith a Personal Agent subscriber, the Personal Agent processor thenbecomes the subscriber's interface to the telephone network. As will bedescribed in further detail below, at this point, using voice commands,the subscriber can perform a number of functions, including theactivation, de-activation of telephone features, initiation of a callvia the Personal Agent, until the subscriber goes on-hook and thePersonal Agent is released. If the telephone set is associated with thePersonal Agent service and if it may be used by persons other than thesubscriber, a user authentication request may be made at this point.

In another embodiment, the determination of whether the subscriber hasaccess to a Personal Agent service is made by launching a query to aSignalling Control Point (SCP). The query would be launched as a TCAPmessage via a Signalling Transfer Point (STP) from the office at whichthe call is originating to an SSP having access to the SCP. A responsefrom the SCP would then indicate whether the call is to be handled bythe Personal Agent processor 11 or whether the serving office is toprovide a dial tone to the subscriber. Similarly, the subscriber serviceprofile may be provided from an SCP database. It should be noted that aPersonal Agent subscriber may also receive a dial tone so that theoperation of the telephone will not appear to be different to otherusers of the phone. If DTMF tones are received, the call will beprocessed as a normal(basic) call, rather than an agent call.

Referring now to FIG. 2a, we have shown generally a block diagram of thePersonal Agent processor 11 connected via link 20 to telephone switchingcenter 10. As indicated earlier, when the subscriber making use oftelephone set 17a is identified as a Personal Agent subscriber bytelephone switching center 10 and database 19, a path is establishedalong link 20 to the Personal Agent processor 11. When applicationprocessor 21 receives the subscriber identity information from thetelephone switching center 10, the subscriber profile is accessed fromone of the Personal Agent subscriber databases 22. This way, thePersonal Agent processor is provided with the operational parametersestablished by the individual subscriber to determine how to properlyrespond to incoming or outgoing calls to and from the subscriber.

As will be described further below, the subscriber database contains,among other things, the subscriber's voice print, telephone numbers,greetings, authorization codes, etc. unique to this subscriber. Inaddition to the above, the Personal Agent subscriber database will alsocontain a contact database containing a list of the subscriber's contactnames, telephone numbers, categories, and call screening information.

By making use of the subscriber's profile, the Personal Agent canintercept incoming calls to any one of the subscriber's predeterminedtelephone network addresses. Thus, if the subscriber has selectedtelephone sets at locations number 1 to number n (FIG. 1) to form partof his or her profile, any time the associated number is dialed bycalling party 22 shown in FIG. 1 via remote telephone switching center12 or calling party 23 (FIG. 2a) also serviced by telephone switchingcenter 10, the Personal Agent will intercept the call. When the numberdialed by calling party 22 or 23 is routed and received at telephoneswitching center 10, a verification of the called number is made by thetelephone switching center database 19 by call controller 16 beforeestablishing a link between trunk circuits 15 and line circuits 14 ofthe called subscriber. If the incoming call is directed to any one ofthe Personal Agent subscriber's selected telephone network addresses,the call controller 16 establishes a call path from trunk circuits 15 toPersonal Agent processor 11 to enable the Personal Agent processor todetermine from the subscriber database how the call should be treated.The only time the call controller 16 can establish a connection from atrunk to a Personal Agent subscriber's line card is if the calloriginates or is intercepted by the Personal Agent processor. The callcontroller 16 would recognize the Personal Agent's identity and enablethe call to go through to the subscriber's selected station. This way, acaller wanting to reach the subscriber cannot by-pass the agent. Thesubscriber can also permit the Personal Agent to intercept incomingcalls by selecting, say, the home telephone number as the main PersonalAgent access number and directing all callers to use that number. Anycalls directed to the home telephone number would then be intercepted bythe Personal Agent. The subscriber can also tailor his or her PersonalAgent profile so that the agent intercepts call directed to only onenetwork address.

Referring now to FIG. 2b, we have shown a call scenario wherein a callto a subscriber is intercepted by the Personal Agent. In the scenario ofFIG. 2b, a calling party 24 is trying to reach the subscriber at theoffice location 25 by dialing the subscriber's office DN 746-2010. Thesubscriber has modified the profile to intercept all calls to his officeDN and route calls from predetermined calling parties directly to thesubscriber's home telephone number, i.e. DN 829-5623. An incoming callwould be routed as follows:

1. The 746-2010 digits are sent to the originating exchange servingcaller 24.

2. An Initial Address Message (IAM) is formulated and then routed to the(746) exchange serving the subscriber's office 25.

3. The (746) exchange checks a data filled table 26 to determine if thereceived digits are associated with a Personal Agent subscriber.

4. If yes, the (746) exchange launches a query to the Personal Agentprocessor 27 to determine how to route the call. The query would containthe identity of the subscriber based on the called number DN.

5. The Call is received at the Personal Agent Processor (eg. SCPplatform) and the Personal Agent verifies the subscriber profile on howto treat this particular incoming call.

6. A new routing option (829-5623) is retrieved from the subscriberprofile based on information established by the subscriber.

7. A response from Personal Agent processor 27 is returned to the (746)Terminating Exchange.

8. A new IAM is then formulated at the (746) exchange and sent to analternate terminating office, i.e. (829) exchange.

9. The terminating exchange then rings subscriber home number. It shouldbe noted that in this example, the subscriber has requested the agent topass the call through. If the subscriber is on a call, a number of otheractions may be taken by the subscriber to handle the call, such as routethe call to voice mail or provide a call waiting treatment.

In this example, a new IAM is formulated at the (746) exchange. A newIAM could of course be formulated at the originating exchange frominformation received in response to the query to the Personal Agent.

As will be explained further below, various options are available to aPersonal Agent subscriber in the screening, routing or forwarding ofincoming calls based on the subscriber profile and calling line ID ofthe calling party.

Referring now to FIG. 3, we have shown a block diagram of theapplication processor 21 shown in FIG. 2. The application processor 21is comprised of a data processor/controller 30 which enables the controlof the application processor's subsystems and the transfer ofinformation and data to and from each subsystem. A speech recognitionmodule 31 is used with the Personal Agent processor to enable asubscriber or calling party to communicate interactively using voicecommands with the Personal Agent interface. An audio response module 32is used to provide predetermined and prerecorded responses by thePersonal Agent interface to a subscriber or calling party. That is,certain requests from a calling party or the subscriber may cause anaudio response to be provided by the Personal Agent. This audio responsewould in most instances originate from the audio response module 32. ThePersonal Agent subscriber database 33, as indicated previously, containsthe subscriber's personal directory, screening database, and otherinformation necessary for the Personal Agent to interact with callingparties and the subscriber. A voice recording/playback module 34 enablesthe subscriber to record predetermined announcements and greetings forcalling parties. In addition, the voice recording/playback module 34 isalso used to record the spoken name of callers trying to reach thesubscriber and the voices of contacts the subscriber may have in thecontact database. A voice messaging system 35 enables the subscriber tomake use of voice messaging features again using voice commands.

It should be noted that voice messaging system 35 is not necessarilyintegral with the Personal Agent platform. In some cases, the voicemessaging system 35 will be provided by a third party supplier andconnected to the data processor/controller 30 using a data link 39 toenable the Personal Agent to access envelope information used toidentify the origination of various messages. In the preferredembodiment, the voice messaging system would be set-up to contact thePersonal Agent data processor/controller 30 as soon as a caller has lefta message. This way, a visual message indication would be provided. Inaddition, once the subscriber goes off-hook, the Personal Agent would beable to provide the subscriber with a message waiting status withouthaving to re-access the voice messaging system. This message would forexample, state "You have 1 personal and 2 business messages."

A DTMF detector 36 is provided for detecting DTMF signals which may beused by the subscriber or calling parties to by-pass the speechrecognition module and activate predetermined commands or bypass others.Similarly, a DTMF signal generator 37 is used in the event that thePersonal Agent interface requires access to an external voice messagingsystem 38 or to activate/de-activate features within a switch or aperipheral device connected to the switch.

Speech recognition module 31 is comprised of a translation processor 40having a speech processing algorithm which processes the caller orsubscriber's speech into a signal representation 41. The signalrepresentation 41 is sent to a speech recognition processor 42 whichmakes use of a word database 43 to compare a word or words stored indatabase 43 with the subscriber's or caller's spoken word or words.

When a speech signal is received from the caller via the dataprocessor/controller 30, the speech recognition module 31 stores thespeech signal and executes instructions stored in the speech translationprocessor 40 to process the stored speech signal according to apredetermined algorithm. A representation of the speech signal which issuitable for input to speech recognition processor 42 is therebyderived. A speech recognition algorithm in the speech recognitionprocessor 42 is applied to the representation of the speech signal tocompute measures of probability that the translated speech signalcorresponds to one or more signal representations of the words stored inthe word database 43.

An example of word database 43 is shown in FIG. 4a. For each word orwords stored in the word database 43 there is an associated signalrepresentation and a command code. Once the proper signal representationis identified in response to a spoken word or words, the speechrecognition processor 42 inputs the associated command code to the dataprocessor/controller 30 to complete the operation requested by thespeaker.

The audio response module 32 is comprised of an audio response processor44 and an audio response module database 45. A sample number of audioresponses stored in the ARM database 45 is shown in FIG. 4b. As in theword database 43, a corresponding command code is associated with eachaudio response. The predetermined audio response is provided to asubscriber or calling party in response to a predetermined actionrequested by the subscriber or the calling party.

The Personal Agent subscriber database 33 is comprised of multipledatabases used by the Personal Agent to treat outgoing and incomingcalls according to the predetermined profiles of subscribers. An exampleof the content of subscriber database 33 is shown in FIG. 5a. One of thePersonal Agent subscriber databases 46 is the subscriber's contactdatabase. It may also include a voice recording memory 47 for theplayback module 34. Contact database 46 contains a list of thesubscriber's contact names and telephone numbers. An example of asubscriber's contact database is shown in FIG. 5b. Memory 47 is used tostore voice recordings of subscriber's greetings and messages as well ascalling parties' names when requested by the Personal Agent. ThePersonal Agent makes use of the subscriber database 33 in order to placecalls, add names to the contact database, identify callers and storecall screening options.

Voice messaging system 35 is comprised of voice messaging applicationprocessor 48 and storage medium 49. As indicated previously, thePersonal Agent interacts with the voice messaging system to enable thesubscriber to retrieve, sort or identify messages using voice activatedcommands.

Referring now to FIG. 4a, we have shown a database table listing samplerecorded words that can either be provided by the subscriber forrecognition by a Speaker Dependent Recognition (SDR) algorithm orpre-recorded words for use with Speaker Independent Recognition (SIR)technology. One or more of these words may be combined to initiate acommand or action on the part of the Personal Agent. Once the word orwords are recognized, the associated command code is transferred to thedata processor/controller 30 for interpretation. Once a command codeassociated with a subscriber request is received, an action may be takenby the data processor/controller 30 with or without feedback from theaudio response module 32. For example, if the subscriber requiresvoice-activated dialing, an audio response from the Personal Agent maynot be required. On the other hand, if the subscriber asks for a list ofnew messages, a response will be provided by the Personal Agent byproviding the required audio response. Of course, the appropriatecommand code requested is based on the exchange of information betweenthe data processor/controller 30, speech recognition module 31, PAsubscriber database 33 and audio response module 32. The audio responsemodule database shown in FIG. 4b provides a list of suitable responsesfor sending to the subscriber or a calling party.

As shown in FIG. 5a, a number of database tables are used in order todefine a subscriber profile. One such table is the Personal Agentsubscriber table 50 which, as indicated previously may reside at thetelephone switching center database 19 showed in FIG. 1. The PersonalAgent subscriber table 50 is used to determine whether a subscribergoing off hook at one of a number of predetermined locations is aPersonal Agent subscriber. As indicated previously, this is done inaccordance with the network address of the telephone line used by thesubscriber. The table could provide an indication of the location of theline's network address as well as the level of service provided to thesubscriber. The table also provides information on the class of serviceavailable to the subscriber.

Once the identity of the subscriber has been confirmed from database 19,the information is used by the Personal Agent to access from thesubscriber profile, a contact database 51, call disposition table 52,screening database 53, administration database 54, call forwardingschedule database 55 and incoming call log 56. As indicated previously,the contact database 51 provides a list of the subscriber's contactnames and telephone numbers. An example of a contact database table isshown in FIG. 5b. The Personal Agent enables a subscriber using voiceactivated commands to place calls, add names to the contact database andidentify callers with CLIDs stored in the subscriber contact databaseshown in FIG. 5b. For example, in order to reach a predetermined person,the subscriber would speak the person's name and location if the personcan be reached at more than one location. A number of user controlledvoice activated commands may be used to access the subscriber's contactdatabase to make a call, add or remove a name, change directory numbers,review or look up the list of contacts, etc. Each voice activatedcommand would be stored in a word database such as illustrated in FIG.4a. It should be noted that the database contents shown in FIG. 5a areshown as examples only. It should also be noted that the content of thecall disposition table 52 and screening database can be automaticallychanged according to the subscriber request for call disposition. Forexample, if the subscriber provides a screening command to the personalagent such as "Send all calls to voice mail. Exception `mom` `ringtelephone`", the personal agent will alter the content of the calldisposition table according to the requested command such that when thecalling party's CLID is received, it is verified against the calldisposition table. On the other hand, if no special screening commandsis issued by the subscriber, then the contact database table may bechecked first before checking the call disposition table or database 52.Thus, FIG. 5a is not meant to be construed as a illustrating an order inwhich tables are verified, but provide an illustration of various tablesused by the personal agent system to provide call management for thesubscriber.

An incoming call log 56 is dynamically updated as new calls are directedto the Personal Agent interface. The subscriber would be able to reviewa list of incoming calls that have been directed to the Personal Agentalong with how the call was treated by the Personal Agent. Various voiceactivated commands can be initiated by the subscriber in associationwith the use of this incoming call log. These will be further describedbelow with reference to Table 3.0.

Yet another table which forms part of the subscriber profile is the calldisposition table 52 and screening table 53. The call disposition andscreening tables 52 and 53 are used by the Personal Agent interface toscreen incoming calls directed to the subscriber according topredetermined parameters defined by the subscriber. Once screened, thecall is disposed of according to yet another series of parameters listedin the table by the subscriber. The subscriber has the ability to modifythe tables at will via the Personal Agent interface using simple voiceactivated commands. As will be described further below, the subscriberhas the ability to uniquely control the call disposition and screeningtable.

In order to facilitate the description of the features of the presentinvention, some of the features will be described using call flowdiagrams starting at FIG. 6 in conjunction with the following tables.

Table 1.0 provides a list of telephony features which may be accessedwith the Personal Agent of the present invention.

                  TABLE 1.0                                                       ______________________________________                                        TYPE               FEATURE                                                    ______________________________________                                        VOICE MAIL         Access                                                                        Message waiting status                                                        Message waiting indication                                                    caller identification                                                         play in any order                                                             call back                                                                     can return to voice mail                                                      after call back                                                               message interception                                                          greetings based on CLID                                                       and/or dialed number                                       SUBSCRIBER ACTIVATED                                                                             Place a regular or private                                 FEATURES           call                                                                          Access to contact database                                                    Access to call logs                                                           request for information                                                       reminders                                                                     busy re-dial                                                                  call screening, trace,                                                        forwarding, waiting and call                                                  again                                                                         audible calling party                                                         announcement                                                                  check for call                                                                call waiting options                                                          cancel call waiting                                                           dynamic update of contact                                                     database based on useage                                                      call disposition profile                                                      updated according to                                                          subscriber's location when                                                    making first contact with                                                     agent                                                      ADMINISTRATION     current settings reminder                                                     context specific help menu                                                    access to human operator                                                      password                                                                      based on location                                                             subscriber name                                                               subscriber's telephone                                                        numbers:                                                                      home, business, mobile,                                                       fax                                                                           call waiting options                                       ______________________________________                                    

Table 1.0 shows a general overview of the subscriber's featuresavailable. These can be activated using voice commands when thesubscriber goes off-hook. The subscriber can access voice mail optionsby simply stating "voice mail" to the Personal Agent. Also, when greetedby a Personal Agent message such as "You have x new messages", thesubscriber can ask "from who". A "Play message" or "Play message from`x`" voice commands enable the Personal Agent to access the voicemessaging system which allows the subscriber to hear the message storedfor this particular caller. The subscriber activated telephony featureslisted in Table 1.0 are features that the subscriber can activate,de-activate or modify as required.

Each of the above-identified options can be utilized by the subscribervia the Personal Agent once the subscriber goes off hook and the agentis invoked. The Personal Agent would provide an indication to thesubscriber that it is available for service by providing the subscriberwith an audio greeting, such as "Hi, you have one new message". Thesubscriber would then activate a feature or command by speaking the termidentified for that command or feature.

An example of a typical subscriber/Personal Agent access scenario isillustrated in FIG. 6. Once the subscriber goes off hook from apre-identified telephone station 60, the agent is invoked 61. If upongoing off-hook, primary signalling is detected, regular (basic) callprocessing occurs and the agent is placed on standby. Alternately, theagent could drop off but be verbally re-invoked by the subscriber. Thiswould require that the a voice detector and speech recognition module beplaced on standby during the conversation. If subscriber verification isrequired 62, a password must be entered by the subscriber and verifiedat box 63. If the proper password is not provided, a dial tone can beprovided at this point or the agent can request the password for one ormore iterations at 64 if the proper password is not provided. Userverification can also be speaker-dependent, i.e. based on thesubscriber's voice print. At this point, if there are new messages, theagent will inform the subscriber 65. Otherwise, the subscriber caneither speak to the agent or wait for a dial tone and enter DTMF tones66. If the agent does not receive DTMF or voice signals within apredetermined amount of time, the agent drops off (remains on standby ordormant until it is re-invoked) and the subscriber receives a standarddial tone. A regular (basic) call proceeds as normal. If a DTMF or voicesignal is received 67 a check is made to determine if it is understood.If the agent is unable to understand the voice command, a furtherrequest iteration is initiated by the agent at box 68. If the agent isable to understand a proper voice command, then a command translation iscompleted at box 69.

Since some commands may require user verification (if bypassedinitially), an additional subscriber verification 70 may be requested.Otherwise, the agent performs the requested command at box 71.

Referring now to FIG. 7, we have shown a flow diagram for outgoing callscenarios for the subscriber wishing to make a call or private call,items 74 and 75 of FIG. 7. If the subscriber requested a private call75, then a request to have the calling line ID of the subscriber blockedat the switch is made (box 76) prior to initiating the call. If a normalcall is requested, the Personal Agent awaits DTMF or the name of acalled party at box 77. If DTMF, the agent verifies the DN 78 and placesthe call 79. If a name is spoken, at box 80 a determination is made asto whether the requested name is in the contact database of thesubscriber. If the name is not in the contact database, a furtherrequest iteration is required 81. Otherwise, the Personal Agent obtainsthe directory number of the requested name and places the call 79. Ifthe requested name is associated with more than one telephone station,then the subscriber would have to specify the place where the call is tobe made.

If the called party's line is busy or not answered, the agent willadvise the subscriber accordingly and offer to perform another task. Ifthe called party's line is not answered, the subscriber can issue avoice command (with telephone keypad backup) to return to the agent atwhich point the agent will offer to perform another task for thesubscriber. If the called party's line is answered, the agent can eitherstay on line with the parties or drop off, in which case the subscriberwill have to re-invoke the agent again in order to perform another agentfunction.

It should be noted that calls can also be placed while the subscriber iscommunicating with the Personal Agent and accessing other features suchas contact database programming, at which point the subscriber wouldmake use of the "call" command to request an outgoing call. A call canalso be placed while the subscriber is accessing the incoming callerslog.

If the spoken name is not in the contact database 81, the agent will ask82 whether to add the name, repeat the name or use DTMF dialing. If thename is repeated, the contact database is verified again at box 80. IfDTMF codes are entered, the agent verifies the DN at box 78. If the AddName command is selected, the Agent collects the required informationfrom the subscriber to add names 83. The call can then be placed 84 orthe subscriber is sent to the principal Personal Agent menu 85.

As part of the telephony feature options, the subscriber can access hisor her contact database once the Personal Agent is invoked by simplyspeaking "contacts" or "contacts database" to the Personal Agent. A listof voice-activated commands for the contact database is shown in Table2.0.

                  TABLE 2.0                                                       ______________________________________                                        TYPE                COMMAND                                                   ______________________________________                                        CONTACT DATABASE    CALL                                                                          ADD TO DATABASE                                                               DELETE                                                                        CHANGE                                                                        LOOK UP A NAME                                                                READ LIST                                                 ______________________________________                                    

The subscriber, with voice-activated commands can request a call to bemade by the Personal Agent while reviewing the contact database. Thename of a contact can also be stored using the contact's own voice foruse with the audible calling party announcement feature. The subscribercan also add names and numbers, change database numbers, look up a name,review the list and remove an entry from the contact database list. DTMFsignal back-up can of course be provided to enable the subscriber tocomplete any one of the above-identified functions. Categories ofcontacts can also be established, such as for a hockey or baseball team,etc. If applicable, a contact priority table as well as screening orcall disposition can be included as well. The categories, screening andcall disposition tables are modified by the subscriber as required.

The incoming call log feature enables the subscriber to review a list ofnew calls and/or a list of the last, say, fifteen callers. Table 3.0shows a sample list.

                                      TABLE 3.0                                   __________________________________________________________________________                     TIME                                                                          &                                                            LIST             Date                                                                              FREQUENCY                                                                              ENTRY     NAME                                  __________________________________________________________________________    NEW ENTRY        16:04                                                                             (ONCE) (1)                                                                             514-829-1066                                                                            JOHN DOE                                               6 Sept                                                                        13.10                                                                             (TWICE)                                                                              (2)                                                                             613-516-2323                                                                            SPOKEN NAME                                            7 Sept                                                                        9:06                                                                              (ONCE) (3)                                                                             604-774-2986                                                     8 Sept                                                       OLD ENTRY        9:16       (1)                                                                             613-516-2323                                                                            JOHN DOE                                               1 Sept                                                                        10:17      (2)                                                                             613-821-4017                                                                            MARY JANE                                              3 Sept                                                                                   (3)                                                                             604-721-8080                                                                  .                                                                             .                                                                             .                                               SUBSCRIBER VOICE COMMANDS     CALL BACK                                                                     ADD TO DATABASE                                                               SCREEN                                                                        ERASE CALL                                                                    DELETE ALL                                                                    SAVE CALL                                       __________________________________________________________________________

The NEW ENTRY list contains a list of the callers that the subscriberhas not yet reviewed including the names and/or telephone numbers. TheOLD ENTRY list on the other hand contains a list of the callers that thesubscriber has received calls from and been informed about.

In order to announce entries in the NEW ENTRY and/or OLD ENTRY lists,the Personal Agent attempts to match the incoming CLID of callers to thesubscriber's contact database entries. This way, it enables the agent toannounce the name of the calling party rather than the directory number.If the CLID is not in the subscriber's contact database, the agent mayask the calling party to say their name, if requested by the subscriber,otherwise the agent will announce the directory number or the name ofthe calling party delivered over the network using text to speechtranslation. Calling parties that have selected to block their CLID willbe asked to say their name or will not be forwarded to the subscriber.When the agent reviews the new entry list, it will provide informationabout who called, the number of calls received from the person and thetime of the last call attempt. Upon reviewing the list, the subscribercan interrupt the agent and at any time initiate a voice command, suchas "call", "add to database", "screen", "erase call" or "delete all".With the "call" command, the agent will place an outgoing call to theappropriate party. With the "add to database" command, the command willbe utilized by the subscriber if upon reviewing the NEW ENTRY or OLDENTRY list, the agent announces the caller by playing the name of thecalling party in the calling party's voice or the agent may make use ofa text to speech synthesizer to speak the name calling party deliveredover the network. The subscriber will know that the calling party hasalready been included in their contact database if the name announcementis in their own voice. With the "screen" command, the subscriber isallowed to screen calls from a particular CLID. The screening featurewill be described in further detail below. With the "erase call" or"delete all" commands, the subscriber is able to delete items from theirentry list. The incoming call log listing the NEW and OLD ENTRY lists isstored as part of the contact database or can also form part of aseparate database.

Another feature is the subscriber's request to "check-for-calls". The"check-for-call" feature allows the subscriber to ask the agent if aparticular person called. The Personal Agent matches the spoken namewith the contact database names and then compares the CLIDs with the NEWENTRY list of the incoming call log. In a sample dialogue, thesubscriber would state to the Personal Agent "did John Doe call?". Thesubscriber could then use the "call" command to call that person. If thename is not in the contact database or it cannot be located withcertainty, subscribers will be asked if they wish to add the name totheir contact database.

Another feature available to a Personal Agent subscriber is the callscreening feature. Table 4.0 shows the call screening categories anddisposition.

                                      TABLE 4.0                                   __________________________________________________________________________    OPTION              TYPE                                                      __________________________________________________________________________    CALL SCREENING CATEGORIES                                                                         ALL CALLS                                                                     PRIVATE (OR BLOCKED) CALLS                                                    NAME                                                                          BY CATEGORIES IN DIRECTORY                                                    BY NUMBER DIALED                                                              BY PRIORITY SETTINGS                                      CALL SCREENING DISPOSITION                                                                        PASS THROUGH                                                                  ANNOUNCE CALLER                                                               SEND TO VOICE MAIL                                                            BLOCK MESSAGE                                                                 SCREEN MESSAGE                                                                SEND RINGING                                                                  PLAY SPECIAL GREETING                                     __________________________________________________________________________

With the call screening feature of the present invention, screening canbe set for all calls or a sub set of calls. Call screening is based onthe above categories, namely all calls, private (or blocked) calls,specific names, by categories, by priorities assigned to the name in thecontact database and by number dialed. Private calls are incoming callsthat have been blocked by the calling party. All private calls can berouted to an agent announcement such as "The caller you are trying toreach does not accept blocked calls." This is the agent blocked messagedisposition which can be integrated with network-based anonymous callerrejection features if deployed. The screening of calls characterized asspecial are for calls from specific names. Each name can be routed to adifferent screening disposition. A certain number of special names canbe allowed. For example, a nuisance caller CLID may be routed to thescreen message which would sound something like "The caller you aretrying to reach is not accepting calls at this time." Special calls canalso be used to enable the subscriber to receive only one call. Forexample, a subscriber may be waiting for an important call and sends allcalls to voice mail except for calls from a specific name or CLIDassociated with this special call. Calls can also be treated accordingto the category assigned to an incoming CLID in the subscriber's contactdatabase, for example: everyone identified as a `hockey team` membercould be sent a special greeting. A priority setting can be set for eachentry in a category such that different call priorities can be providedwithin the same category. Finally, calls can be routed according towhich subscriber number was dialed.

The Personal Agent call screening disposition options include "connect","announce caller", "send to voice mail", "block message", "screenmessage", "keep ringing" and "play special greeting".

The connect disposition option enables the subscriber to set thedisposition of all calls, a group of calls, or specific calls includingexception calls as "pass through". Incoming calls are directed by thePersonal Agent to the subscriber's current location number. The PersonalAgent in the pass through disposition option does not intercept oranswer the call. If a no answer or busy condition exists, the PersonalAgent will redirect the incoming call to voice mail.

The announce call disposition option enables the subscriber to set thedisposition of all calls, a group of calls, or specific calls as"announce caller" options. In this option, incoming calls are answeredby the Personal Agent if the agent doesn't have the name and/or CLID inthe contact database or is not delivered by the network. If the incomingcall is determined to be a voice call as opposed to a data call, theagent advises the caller that it will attempt to locate the subscriber.The caller is placed on hold while the agent attempts to contact thesubscriber's current location number. The agent announces the callingparty to the subscriber, and the subscriber will have the choice toeither accept connection to the caller, send the caller to voice mail orplay the block or screen announcement to the caller. In order toannounce the caller, the Personal Agent checks the incoming CLID againstthe contact database entries of the subscriber. If a match is found, theagent will utilize the stored name to announce the caller. If a match isnot found, the agent will use the name delivered over the network whichis then translated (text to speech) to obtain an audible announcement.The caller's recorded announcement will be retained for the incomingcall log and to announce incoming calls to the subscriber. With thiscall disposition option, the subscriber can ask the Personal Agent toplay the block or screen announcement to the caller.

If the subscriber has selected an announcement disposition for the call,the agent will answer an incoming call. There are two messagedisposition options provided by the Personal Agent, namely: "blockannouncement" (similar to anonymous caller rejection) and "screenannouncement". With the block announcement, the Personal Agent wouldtell the caller "The person you are trying to reach does not acceptblocked calls." With the screen option, the Personal Agent would tellthe caller "The person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls atthis time." or provide a continuous ringing just as if no-one were hometo answer the call. The agent will answer the call and advise the callerthat there is a message for him or her. Upon playing the block messageor screen message announcements, the agent will disconnect the callingparty.

With the send to voice mail disposition option, incoming calls aredirected by the Personal Agent to voice mail. The Personal Agent doesnot need to intercept or answer the call. Once the caller is routed tovoice mail, the standard voice mail functions normally associated withvoice mail are then accessible to the caller.

With the special greeting option, the subscriber can pre-record agreeting for a specific caller or group of callers. If the agent isrelaying a subscriber message, the agent will ask the caller if theywould like to leave a message for the subscriber.

It should be noted that the call screening categories and dispositionwill be tailored according the subscriber's schedule provided in thesubscriber's profile of Table 5.0

Another feature offered by the Personal Agent is the "call trace"feature. In this case, the subscriber can ask the agent to initiate acall trace on a call. The record of the most recent call in the newcalls log is copied and sent to the telephone company for processing.The subscriber then contacts the telephone company to obtain furtherinformation about the success of the call trace.

Yet another call management feature is the "call forward" option. Thecall forward option allows the subscriber to direct incoming calls totheir current location. In order to permit this, the subscriber informsthe agent as to their current whereabouts. This may automatically bedone each time the subscriber contacts the Personal Agent from anylocation. The subscriber may identify one of the principal subscribernumbers by name, for example, "home", "work", "cellular". In the case ofremote locations, the subscriber would identify the remote location byname, for example, by saying "here" or by saying a name in the contactdatabase or by entering the telephone number through DTMF entries. Ifcall forwarding is requested to areas requiring toll charges, a passwordmay be requested.

Calls made via the Personal Agent by a subscriber would provide thesubscriber's known public directory number associated with PersonalAgent access as the CLID.

The administration feature enables the subscriber to review and changeadministration options, such as shown below in Table 5.0.

                  TABLE 5.0                                                       ______________________________________                                        OPTION                 ENTRY                                                  ______________________________________                                        SUBSCRIBER NAME        JOHN SMITH                                             WORK NUMBER            619-828-8383                                           Password required?     Yes                                                    HOME NUMBER            619-838-1078                                           Password required?     Yes                                                    CELLULAR NUMBER        619-769-5623                                           Password required?     No                                                     PASSWORD               5876                                                   LANGUAGE               ENGLISH                                                DIRECTORY SIZE         50                                                     DISTINCTIVE RINGING    NO                                                     DISTINCTIVE RINGING NUMBER                                                                           N/A                                                    PROMPTING LEVEL        LOW                                                    AGENT PERSONALITY      FEMALE                                                 ______________________________________                                    

With this option, the subscriber can review or change the recording ofthe subscriber's name, the subscriber's work, cellular or home telephonenumber, the subscriber's password or PIN number and any indicationwhether flags are required to indicate if access PIN numbers arerequired from their home, work and cellular locations. Access to theadministration feature is password protected thereby requiring asubscriber to enter their PIN numbers.

Distinctive ringing may be used in association with the Personal Agentservice of the present invention to assist the subscriber indifferentiating between business and personal calls or calls meant forspecific individuals in, say, the household.

Table 6.0 provides an example of the call forwarding schedule database.This table defines the default network addresses that the subscriber hasselected for receiving calls during the identified time interval.

                  TABLE 6.0                                                       ______________________________________                                        OPTION                 ENTRY                                                  ______________________________________                                        WEEKDAY SCHEDULE       CELLULAR                                               A) 07:30-08:00         WORK                                                   B) 08:00-17:00         CELLULAR                                               C) 17:00-17:30         HOME                                                   D) 17:30-07:30                                                                WEEKEND SCHEDULE       HOME                                                   A) 0:01-23:59                                                                 ______________________________________                                    

Referring now to FIGS. 8a-8d, we have shown in a flow diagram a callscenario for the screening and prioritization of incoming calls when thesubscriber is on-hook. When an incoming call is directed to a directorynumber that the subscriber has identified for call screening 86, theagent is invoked 87. Invoking the agent does not necessarily mean thatthe agent answers the call but simply that verification of thesubscriber's call screening and prioritization parameters are verifiedbefore further routing the call. First the agent verifies whether theincoming call is voice or data 88. If the call is voice, a check is made89 to determine if it has a CLID. If there is none or the CLID isblocked, the agent answers the call and asks for name and number atblock 90. If a CLID is received, a determination is made to see if it isspecified by the subscriber in the call screening and prioritizationlist. This is done at step 91 wherein if no call screening andprioritization is specified by the user, the agent then verifies callannouncement option settings at block 92 in FIG. 8b. Otherwise the agentchecks the calling line ID of the caller at block 93 and invokes thecall screening and priority request of the subscriber. If thesubscriber's request is to accept calls by ringing the subscriber'sphone 94, then again the agent verifies call announcement optionsettings at block 92, otherwise a determination is made of whether thecaller should receive an announcement at block 95. If the caller shouldreceive an announcement, the agent routes the call to the appropriateannouncement at block 96, otherwise a determination is made as towhether the caller is sent to voice mail at block 97. If the caller isto be sent to voice mail, the agent routes the call to an appropriatesubscriber greeting for the voice mail system at block 98. If the callis a data call at block 99, then the agent routes the call toappropriate data storage 100. If the call announcement option setting atblock 92 is selected, then the agent verifies whether the callannouncement option is on or off at block 101. If the call announcementis off, the subscriber upon going off hook at block 102 will not receivean announcement. If call announcement is on at block 101, then adetermination is made at block 103 of whether the calling line ID of thecaller is in the contact database. If the calling line ID is in thecontact database of the subscriber, the Personal Agent announces atblock 104 the calling party upon the subscriber going off hook. If thecalling line ID is not in the personal directory at block 103, the namedelivered over the network is translated (text to speech) to obtain anaudible announcement at block 105. A determination can be made todetermine whether the subscriber wants to invoke that feature given theextra time required to obtain the information and to listen to thespoken announcement.

If necessary, a further identification of whom should receive theincoming call is made based on a determination of whether the call isdirected to a primary or secondary directory number at block 108 of FIG.8c. If call identification is required, then the specified ring isprovided to the subscriber before the subscriber goes off hook at block109, otherwise the normal ring is provided to the subscriber, block 110.The subscriber then goes off hook to answer the call 111. If necessarysubscriber verification may be required at block 112. A determination isthen made at block 113 of FIG. 8d of whether to announce the name of thecaller. If the call announcement is off, the agent will connect the call114, whereas if the call announcement is on, the agent plays theappropriate announcement to the subscriber 115. Upon receiving theannouncement, the subscriber can decide whether to accept, reject orredirect the call 116. If the call is rejected 117, the agent forwardsor sends the call to Screen Block Announcement. If the call isredirected 118, it is sent to voice mail whereas if the call is accepted119 by the subscriber, the agent connects the call.

Once the subscriber has access to the Personal Agent system a messagewaiting status such as number of messages waiting and who the messagesare from is provided. This message waiting status will be based on CLIDof the callers who have left messages. The subscriber can then requestthe Personal Agent to play the messages in any order or return calls orsend messages at any time.

In order to make sure that the subscriber receives an indication ofmessages waiting to be heard, the Personal Agent provides messagewaiting indicator to the subscriber's current location. Accordingly, asubscriber would receive a message waiting indication at home, businessor cellular numbers.

Another feature which the subscriber can access via the Personal Agentinterface is voice mail. The subscriber can access the voice mail viathe agent by using a voice command "voice mail". Once connected to thevoice mail system, subscribers can perform any of a number of operationsusing voice-activated commands. If the voice mail system forms anintegral part of the Personal Agent interface of the present invention,the Personal Agent acts as the interface thus providing completeflexibility in handling stored messages. The specific functionalities ofthe interface with a voice mail system is described in applicant'sco-pending application Ser. No. . . . If the subscriber requires accessto an external voice mail system, the voice mail commands are replacedby DTMF tones and IVR as is currently done for voice mail operationstoday. The agent would connect the subscriber to the voice mail system.Once the voice mail system is released or disconnected, the agent comesback on-line to perform tasks for the subscriber. It should also benoted that while in the voice mail system, the subscriber can initiate acall return based on information received from the Personal Agent.

The control of voice messaging platform is again done via voiceactivation interaction with the user's Personal Agent. Since thePersonal Agent acts as the interface to the subscriber, the PersonalAgent would have access to the voice message system access number,mailbox number and password from the subscriber database profile.

The subscriber can also record additional voice mail greetings to makethe voice message system more user friendly to incoming callers. Thevoice mail greeting played to the calling party would be tailored basedon calling line ID of the calling party or the called number of thecalling party. Thus, if the caller tries to reach the subscriber at thebusiness number, a greeting indicative of a voice mail system forbusiness calls would be provided to the calling party whereas if thecalling party is attempting to reach the subscriber at his or her homenumber, a more social greeting announcement would be played by the voicemail system.

When the subscriber requires access to a message which has been left bya predetermined calling party, calling party identity is retrieved fromthe voice mail system using indexing of voice message information storedin the voice mail storage medium. The stored information may bepacketized in PCM synchronous format as is currently done in many voicemail storage systems. Thus, when voice messages are retrieved from thestorage medium, they are depacketized for transmission to the PersonalAgent and then on to the subscriber.

As in previous Personal Agent features, the subscriber can also make useof DTMF commands to bypass voice activation.

Another feature which is enhanced by means of the Personal Agent serviceof the present invention is the call waiting option. With reference toFIGS. 9a-9f, we have shown a flow diagram of a call waiting scenario. Asindicated in the background of the invention, call waiting servicecurrently offered by telephone service providers lets the subscriberknow if another call from a third party is waiting while the subscriberis on-line with another party. The subscriber hears a soft beep forlocal calls and a long-short-short beep for long distance calls. In theembodiment of the present invention, a Personal Agent subscriber who iscurrently on a call and who receives an incoming call at block 120 willnot immediately receive the standard call waiting tones. Instead, thePersonal Agent is invoked at block 121. The Personal Agent determines ifthe call is voice or data 122. If the call is data, it is treatedaccording to the subscriber's specified call treatment at block 123. Ifthe call is voice, the agent determines whether or not CLID is providedor blocked 124. If no CLID is provided or the call is a private call,the agent answers the call and asks for the name and number of callingparty at block 125. Otherwise a determination is then made by thePersonal Agent at block 123 of whether the subscriber has specified thecall screening and prioritization parameters. If the subscriber hasspecified the call screening and prioritization parameters, the agentchecks at block 124 for incoming calling line ID, called DN andspecified screening and prioritization. If the call is a data call it issent to data storage 126. A determination is made at block 127 todetermine whether to send an announcement to the calling party. If so,the agent at block 128 routes the call to appropriate announcement. Ifno caller announcement is specified at block 127, then a determinationis made of whether the caller should be sent to voice mail at block 129.If the caller is to be sent to voice mail, the agent at block 130provides the appropriate greeting for the calling party. If incomingcall waiting calls are not to be sent to voice mail, then the agentdetermines if the call waiting option is on or off at box 131. Dependingon the call waiting option settings determined at box 131, the caller isrouted to voice mail at box 132 with an appropriate greeting. If thesubscriber's current or initial call is data, the agent routes theincoming call to voice mail 133 otherwise, the subscriber is on a voicecall. A determination is then made at block 134 of the priority of theinitial call. If it is a priority call, should the call be interruptedat block 135. If no, the agent routes the call to appropriateannouncement 136. If interruption is allowed, a further determination ofwhether an announcement is obtained at block 137 and 138. If noannouncement is to be made, the agent verifies the call waiting settings139 to determine whether the notification should be SCWID 140, Cw tone141 or tone and announcement 142. If the CLID is in the contact database143 the subscriber receives the calling party's name after the tone 146.If there is no corresponding CLID in the database, the agent translatesthe name delivered over the network. If there is no announcement, agentprovides tone at block 147. Call disposition by the subscriber is asillustrated earlier.

In scenario B of FIG. 9d, if an announcement is to be played, the callwaiting caller will hear an announcement outlining options such as "Hi,this is Joe, I am on another call at the moment, please press 1 if youwould like to leave a message, press 2 if you would like to hold orpress 3 if you would like to interrupt my current call." Scenario A doesnot allow the caller to interrupt the subscriber's current call. Asindicated earlier, these announcements would be retrieved by thePersonal Agent from voice recording/playback module 34 shown in FIG. 3.The calling party can either enter the aforementioned DTMF tones orrequest an option by means of voice-activated commands. Thevoice-activated commands would be treated by means ofspeaker-independent technology to permit the Personal Agent to recognizerequests from unknown parties. If the calling party does not respond orthe response cannot be identified, then the caller is returned to theagent for receiving further prompts from the agent. If a response isreceived from the calling party, then a determination is made as towhether the calling party wishes to leave a voice mail message, hold forthe subscriber, or interrupt the call. If the calling party wishes toleave a voice message, the agent would then route the caller to theappropriate voice mail greeting. If the caller wishes to hold, then theagent would route the caller to an appropriate announcement and providethe subscriber with the call waiting tone. If the calling party hasselected to interrupt the call, the agent would first verify the callwaiting treatment option before sending a call waiting tone to thesubscriber.

In scenario A, callers can automatically be asked to hold with anappropriate announcement. For example, if the subscriber is on anotherline, the call waiting caller is automatically routed to the subscribercall waiting announcement "Hi, this is Joe, I am on another call at themoment, please hold and I will be right with you or if you would like toleave a message say `message` and I will return your call as soon aspossible." The subscriber is provided with a call waiting tone toindicate a caller is holding. When the subscriber completes the firstcall, the Personal Agent will announce the calling party beforeconnecting the call waiting call, unless the subscriber has turned offthe announcement option.

What we claim is:
 1. A method of screening and prioritizing an incomingcall directed to a subscriber while said subscriber is off-hook on afirst call, comprising the steps of:a) detecting whether said incomingcall is directed to said subscriber; b) determining whether saidincoming call is from a calling party known to said subscriber; c) ifsaid calling party is known to said subscriber, determining whether apriority level has been assigned to calls from said calling party; d) ifa priority level has been assigned, comparing the priority level of saidincoming call with the priority level of said first call; e) forwardinga call waiting announcement to said calling party to present the callingparty with call termination options based on the result of step (d); andf) if the calling party selects an option to interrupt the call,notifying the subscriber without interrupting the first call.
 2. Amethod as claimed in claim 1, wherein said calling party is determinedto be known to said subscriber by querying a database containing a listof calling parties known to said subscriber.
 3. A method as claimed inclaim 2, wherein said database is queried based on the calling party'scalling line ID (CLID).
 4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein saidpriority level associated with said calling party is stored in saiddatabase.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said priority levelcan be modified by said subscriber by accessing said database.
 6. Amethod as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of notifying thesubscriber comprises providing a call waiting tone.
 7. A method asclaimed in claim 6, wherein the step of notifying the subscriber furthercomprises providing a spontaneous call waiting identification signalindicative of the calling number/name identification of said callingparty.
 8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of notifyingthe subscriber comprises an audio signal providing the name of thecalling party.
 9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said callwaiting announcement forwarded to the calling party to provide thecalling party with call termination options comprises an audio message.10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said audio message comprisesa request for said calling party to hold while the subscriber is advisedthat the calling party has opted to interrupt the first call.
 11. Amethod as claimed in claim 9, wherein said audio message is followed bya request for said calling party to state his or her name.
 12. A methodas claimed in claim 9, wherein said audio message is followed by a voicemail greeting from said subscriber requesting the calling party to leavea voice message.
 13. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step ofnotifying the subscriber comprises an audio signal indicating thecalling line ID of the calling party.
 14. A method as claimed in claim1, wherein the step of notifying the subscriber comprises providing acall waiting tone for all incoming calls, regardless of the priorityassociated with the calling party.
 15. A method as claimed in claim 1,wherein said first call is placed on hold at the request of thesubscriber after said calling party is identified to said subscriber.16. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first call, saidincoming call and said subscriber are conferenced together at therequest of the subscriber after the calling party is identified to thesubscriber.
 17. A method of screening and prioritizing an incoming calldirected to a subscriber while said subscriber is off-hook on a firstcall, comprising the steps of:(a) determining whether said incoming callis a voice or data call; (b) if said incoming call is a voice call,determining whether said incoming call is from a calling party known tosaid subscriber; (c) if said incoming call is from a calling party knownto said subscriber, determining whether a priority level has beenassigned to calls from said calling party; (d) if a priority level hasbeen assigned, comparing the priority level of said incoming call withthe priority level of said first call; (e) forwarding a call waitingannouncement to said calling party to provide the calling party withcall termination options based on the result of step (d); (f) if thecalling party selects an option to interrupt the call, notifying thesubscriber without interrupting the first call; and (g) obtaining anindication from the subscriber as to how the incoming call should beterminated without interrupting the first call.
 18. A method as claimedin claim 17, wherein if said first call is a voice call and saidincoming call is a data call, said data call is forwarded to datastorage without notifying the subscriber.